Sports Flash

Romanian weightlifter Nicolae Onica won bronze in the 96 kilogram
category of the World Weightlifting Championships in Ashgabat, Turkmenistan,
totalling 391 kilograms. The gold went to Sohrab Moradi of Iran with 416
kilograms and the silver to Tao Tian of China with 407 kilograms. In the snatch
event, the Romanian weightlifter finished fourth with 175 kilograms after
having failed his last attempt at 182. Onica also ranked fourth in the jerk
event with 216 kilograms.

Romanian tennis player Simona Halep will end the year on the first
position in the WTA ranking, reiterating her 2017 achievement. With 28 million
dollars, the Romanian comes 6th in an all-time ranking of the women tennis
players who made money out of professional tournaments. US player Serena
Williams comes first in this ranking with over 88 million dollars, being
followed by her sister Venus with almost 41 million, and Russian Maria
Sharapova with 38 million.

As of January 1st 2019, Bogdan Lobont, the former goalie of
Romania's national football side, will be coaching the first team in his
career, second leaguer Universitatea Cluj. Lobont will also be supervising the Football
Academy for Children and Juniors, where a model similar to that of the big
European clubs is being implemented. Lobont, 40, has won 85 caps for Romania's
national football side including two European championships, in 2000 and 2008. Lobont
played for Corvinul Hunedoara, FC Rapid, Ajax Amsterdam, Dinamo Bucharest,
Fiorentina and AS Rome. He won the Romanian championship three times, the Dutch
championship once, as well as one Romanian Football Cup.

According to the official webpage of the Romanian football side FCSB,
midfielder Ovidiu Popescu will stay off the pitch for the next 6 months. Popescu
was operated in his left knee after getting injured in the match FCSB won 2-1
against Universitatea Craiova. FCSB's lineup has been recently confronted with
a shortage of players. No less than 6 players, mostly from the team's defensive
line, have been injured in the past two weeks. This shortage eventually took
its toll on the team's performance and FCSB got edged out of the Romanian Cup's
eighth finals by Dunarea Calarasi.